China's State Grid Plans to Procure 8,500 Robots in 2026 with $9.4B Investment

China's State Grid Corp. has drawn up a plan to procure about 8,500 robots in 2026, with total investment of roughly 6.8 billion yuan ($9.4 billion). The rollout will focus on power inspection, live-line operations, emergency response and logistics. The largest category is quadruped inspection robots with 5,000 units budgeted at 1.5 billion yuan for substations and transmission lines. Humanoid robots for live-line work carry the highest unit cost, with 500 units allocated 2.5 billion yuan. Procurement will be phased: pilot orders in Q1, large-scale purchases in Q3, follow-up in Q4. Suppliers include Unitree, Agibot, UBTECH Robotics and Fourier Intelligence. Each unit could save 500,000-800,000 yuan annually with a payback period of 2-3 years.